This past week Dreyfuss was honored with the 2010 Empire State Archives and History Award. I don’t know anything about this award, but it seems to me that this is a sign of what’s wrong with our society and education. As much as I applaud Dreyfuss for bringing attention to this issue there are people who work day after day in the trenches teaching this material. Organizations promoting the teaching of civics are a dime a dozen and there are already more than enough curricular materials for the classroom. Can someone please tell me what Mr. Dreyfuss has done to deserve an award? We give these people awards as a quick fix rather than taking the time to acknowledge the deeper problems within our education system.

In the meantime may I suggest that Mr. Dreyfuss find a more appropriate outfit to wear in the classroom. Some of us consider ourselves to be professionals when we walk into our classrooms.

He and Mr. Tony Danza should start a school: the Actor’s School of Excellence… or the imaginary world of education. I also am waiting for Mandy Patinkin to start a hospital and be the chief of Emergency Medicine.

I caught Dreyfuss’s act at Gettysburg’s Remembrance Week 2009. His speech on Dedication Day at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery was a well-intentioned mess: a string of cliches about “civics,” delivered in a scolding tone, with very little in the way of actual ideas or useful suggestions. Embarrassing, really.